Mauritius-based Royale Partners offers $1.67 billion fund for Sahara's Aamby Valley

The investment offer, proposed as a debt arrangement, comes at a time when the Supreme Court has ordered auction of the Aamby Valley resort town between Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra.

Sahara group pegs the market valuation of this project at over Rs 1 trillion. Royale Partners Investment Fund Limited, registered in Mauritius as a global business company, is owned by Dubai- headquartered RPMG Investment which is into investment management, private equity, asset management and proprietary trading.

Sahara’s advocate Gautam Awasthi, meanwhile, said in a statement that the group had moved an application before the Supreme Court seeking permission for entering into an agreement with Victor Koenig UK Limited, with the nominee Royale Partners Investment Fund Limited, for inviting an investment of $1.67 billion into its Aamby Valley project.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the auction process will go on according to the schedule, but if Rs 1,500 crore is paid, as proposed by the group, into the Sebi-Sahara refund account by September 7, then it may pass an appropriate order.

The group had asked the court to postpone the auction, which is to start with publication of a notice on 14 August, till 16 September to enable Sahara group chief Subrata Roy arrange the money.

Sahara lawyer told the court that hotels in New York have been sold and soon money would be coming into the Sahara account after which Rs1,500 crore would be deposited into the Sebi-Sahara refund account by September 7, as had been directed by the court.

The Sahara group ha been engaged in a legal battle with SEBI since long for failing to refund billions of dollars to investors in a bond programme.